The Starbucks Fair Trade controversy

The past couple of years, the Fair Trade coffee movement has started to come in for its share of criticism. Whilst Starbucks has slowly bought more certified Fair Trade coffee, it represents only a very small percentage of their total coffee (3.7%). Starbucks rarely offers certified Fair Trade coffee as their coffee of the day, nor has it followed its own policy of brewing Fair Trade coffee, on demand.

According to OCA (Organic Consumers Association), many customers mistakenly assume that all Starbucks coffee is fair-traded, but in fact, just 6% of the company's coffee is certified as 'fair-trade'.

While Starbucks only buys about 1% of its coffee with the fair trade coffee label, its sales make up more than 10% of the global fair trade coffee market. At the same time, Starbucks contends, their CAFE program means that they actually pay higher than fair trade coffee prices for a great deal of their coffee. (source: http://www.talkaboutcoffee.com/fair-trade-coffee-more-than-higher-prices.html) 

 Sources:
Starbucks Fair Trade Campaign
Organic Consumers Association : Starbucks
www.beanactivist.wordpress.com

 

 

 

 

CHILD LABOUR in the coffee world

My secondary research on fair trade, inequalities of coffee trading, children at the beginning stages of coffee production line has brought up two main interesting themes.
That of; 
1. CHILD LABOUR
2. DEPRIVATION OF EDUCATION
Both these themes directly interlink with one another. Children are forced by their families to work in coffee plantations in various third-world countries in order to get more income therefore the parents can afford to put their children in school. A large percentage of the time, this is an unrealistic theory as in third-world countries, the families are much bigger in size, there is the issue of gender equality (most parents favour the male due to a sad belief that male's have a better chance of performing well in education therefore providing a hope for a better quality of life) and advancements of the level of education. Children experience the same poor living conditions as the adults, they are more vulnerable to diseases, their education is affected through their families low income level and their consequent need to help work to support their families at young fragile ages; reality of child labour.


I wanted to research further into the area of child labour, deprivation of education yet remaining my focus into the coffee sector. Thus, the following facts: 

• Child labour is a prevalent problem in the coffee industry. In Kenya's central province workforce, 60% are children.
• Children may start working as soon as they are tall enough to reach the lower branches (average height: 3 - 3.5m therefore lower branches may well be 1m or below). 
• Their tasks include: picking, spraying, sorting, fertilising, pruning, transporting, weeding
• In the coffee plantations of Honduras, children make up between 20%-40% of the workforce.
• The child labour in coffee sector in Tanzania is reported as one of the wort forms of child labour by ILO (International Labour Organisation)

CHILD LABOUR STATISTICS ON A MACRO SCOPE

Today, more than 250 million children between the ages of 5-14 work!

child in El Salvador coffee plantation

Source 1 : Statistics of Child Labour in Coffee sector
Source 2 : ILO website (International Labour Organisation)

the right to have an education is a HUMAN RIGHT.

To grasp the understanding of the coffee trade and issues affecting the coffee sector, I did some secondary research and came across an interesting article regarding the 'fair trade' theory within the coffee sector.
Conclusion:
From this article, it is blatant that the world of coffee trade is an unfair one. In actuality, the whole trading system is unfair therefore economics is unfair thus making the world an unfair place! I already knew that! What had intrigued me from this article however is the interviewed person's plea for education. It reveals that the coffee trade system (or any trade system for that matter) in such third-world countries, whether it be Uganda, Ethiopia, Honduras, India, the unfairness of it ultimately affects peoples (whether it be children or adults) right to have an education. It doesn't matter where you are from, the right to have an education is a HUMAN RIGHT.

group feedback.

From our group tutorial, not only did we come to terms that our concept was 'tricky' and quite difficult to find design opportunities from but we had managed to bounce back and forth a few idea's to aid in our sense of direction.

• the practice of liking the product ie. coffee
• coffee based on life events ie. exams, success etc.
• the boundary point between acceptability - focusing on the role of children and how it changes
• coffee as a form of education?
• the child on the other side of the production process (not the receiver but the producer)

For me, I began drinking coffee at the age of 10. Growing up in an Asian society (Jakarta & Singapore), coffee or cafe's are not usually places to socialise. It was never a norm to 'meet up over a coffee' or hang out with friends at a coffee place. We were often encouraged to go to Starbucks to study after-school, during exams etc. Starbucks, Costa, Coffee Beans (outlets) in Asia tends to have a 'study area' which is bombarded with students from all ages everyday. You also get plenty of business workers having a meeting over coffee... I found it relatable and interesting with one of the group's film depicting coffee = success! 

Another interesting concept to look into is the child at the start of the production line. This could open myself to design dilemma's regarding child labour, fair trade, education and all sorts! 

group project

Our group film project was based on the notion of raising the question:

KIDS ON CAFFEINE - GROUP 4.

"At what age is it appropriate to give children coffee?"

Secondary Research (briefly) revealed mixed answers yet to not the extent of certainty. From internet research, although many agreed that the appropriate age would be children commencing secondary education (yr.7) in which is 13-14yrs, others argued that there is no severe problems of introducing coffee to a child at a young age because we (parents) already pump in caffeine and sugar to children with products such as 'Pop' or 'Coca Cola' therefore coffee is harmless as there are no illegal age limits based on it.

Also some parents turn to coffee as an alternative treatment for children with ADD, ADHD or obstinate-defiant syndrome as it is successful in keeping them calm.

Primary Research - We took the streets of Greenwich and asked a few people about what they thought was the appropriate age to give children coffee. Results were similar to that of our secondary research however our group had reinforced the very fact that 'Coke' or 'Pop' contains caffeine and more sugar than coffee whereby the interviewed audience were forced to reconcile with the statement. It was also interesting to find that Costa, the prominent coffee/café franchise has a party package for children.